Manus will return to operating as an independent company

thm 147 points 71 comments August 11, 2026
manus.im · View on Hacker News

Discussion Highlights (11 comments)

stephantul

Anyone have info on whose regulatory restrictions they are referring to?

econ

Perhaps unfairly my interest suddenly dropped to zero when the acquisition was announced. The hype also seemed gone?

trouve_search

Does anyone here use Manus actively? I found it worse than alternatives in the similar space (Claude, genspark, kagi research, etc.) and slightly baffling they were being acquired at a $2B valuation in the first place.

capten

I expect this decupling will affect certain users. Can certain users speak up about this? I'm certain that certain users use Manus and are users on this certain site.

aslfan

Bro I remeber manus private beta miss it

nylonstrung

This has to be one of the most flash in the pan, 5 minutes of fame company in a long time It's crazy how short it's hype cycle lasted

fitzgera1d

Switched to avi.run already. But loved Manus initially.

bossyTeacher

I bet Demis wishes the UK had blocked the DeepMind acquisition by Google. He will have a lot of time to think now that he has been kicked out of his own company

willdr

What does this product do? There's absolutely nothing on the main screen of the app except a chat box.

DrewADesign

I don’t actually care about this flash-in-the-pan company, but the name Manus is the reason startups should have a branding designer or branding agency do branding work before they’re too recognizable to change without throwing people off, but not large enough for anyone to learn about it organically (e.g. Meta, X). I can’t help but read it like ‘anus’ with an M in front of it. People on the technical side of the business often insist people don’t care things like that, but when non-technical people are looking at a few services that seem roughly equivalent to them, even subconsciously, appeal plays a big role. And M’Anus is not appealing. The fantasy that you’re building something so useful it will sell itself is magical thinking. Yet another reason AI will never replace designers— just screw up the job market for them.

rasheed106

Puzzling that Meta didn't see this one coming. Wonder if there was a break up fee.

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